Blurred Keys

The official announcement of the merger of Dublin morning freesheets Herald AM and Metro lacks any detail, as Markham Nolan writes here.

Back in March, The Irish Times business section had already reported it would be called Metro Herald, the deal would be subject to approval by the Competition Authority, and that Associated Newspapers, The Irish Times and Independent News and Media would own a third of the new paper. Nolan also gave his view on the merger back in March.

Of course, the business heads of each company are quoted to give a glowing review of the move. But the only new fact seems to be that the 145,000 copies of both freesheets combined distributed currently, will drop to “70,000 plus” copies of the new Metro Herald.

Gav Reilly ponders about the last edition of Question and Answers which excluded the central part of the show. The element which made Q&A what it was — the audience interaction.

That interaction lead to what will likely stand as one of the most powerful contributions in the programme’s history. Even those of us who felt sick after reading coverage of the Ryan Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Michael O’Brien’s now famous appearance gave viewers a greater understanding of the pain and anger felt by victims of abuse and the way the Government was handling the issue.

Wouldn’t it have been great be able to open the floor some questions out of the Taoiseach,  who was the final guest? Ok, so, Brian Cowen would have been unlikely to appear if he knew uncomfortable questions could come from the floor. But that should not be the concern of a current affairs programme.

Unfortunately,  John Bowman not only wants focus on more on history, he started to do so heavy with the last show. And that would be ok, if he was not so uncritical in his methods. Soft questions — like how the Taoiseach comes across on TV — were the order of the day and too much rhetoric from Cowen left unchallenged. What was the point of the interview?

In a question on standing by former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, Cowen answered:

“I see my job as being part of a collective authority which is cabinet and one supports the leader of the cabinet at all times. Without that you don’t get decision making…”

Isn’t this the type of unquestioning support of authority at all times the kind of environment that allowed abuse of children who were in the care of the State? Isn’t it the kind of environment the leaves too much room for bad decisions to be made on so many different levels? Has it not led to unaccountably?

Maybe it’s unfair to criticise Bowman when it seems to be standard in the media not to hold Government to account? Maybe Bowman is focused on some other part of the bigger picture I don’t see?

As Gav Reilly says:

The premise of the show was about getting public figures into a room and essentially holding them accountable. It will forever be a shame that the final guest, the most powerful the show could ever get hold of, was allowed to break that mould.

And to paraphrase Jeremy Paxman: When one is in a position to interview those in power the person should ask questions that people would expect to be asked, and continue until the question is actually answered. The amount of unquestioned rhetoric in the Cowen interview makes it fail this requirement. To be fair, Paxman also says one often gets it wrong.

All in the realm of new media: Adrian Weckler talks to Michael Foley, a senior journalism lecturer in DIT, snobbery against online journalism. Weckler also asks: How much is too much for journalists to blog and tweet? Meanwhile, Adam Maguire deals with his own experience of publishing a link to an unedited interview after an article of his.

In The Irish Times today, Peter Murtagh writes (’Journalists are supposed to be against abuses‘) about Monica Leech being awarded €1.87 million in her libel case against the Evening Herald / Independent News & Media.

He says journalists should not be standing “shoulder to shoulder” with those who abuse power — in this case the Herald.

The argument on the other side is the large sum awarded will deter serious journalism. But is it not the Herald which is at fault here rather than the jury? Beside money, what else does Independent News and Media understand? What else would make them think twice?

An invaluable defamation defence for Irish discussion forums could be seen in the outcome of a case at the Dublin High Court, Mulvaney v Betfair. In that case, Betfair successfully claimed defence under an EU directive which protects hosting companies from defamation once they remove the content after they have been contacted and warned about it. Before now the people who run sites were seen in law as publishers.

TJ McIntyre, lecturer at the University College Dublin School of Law,  has more, where he warns:

“Consequently, although this decision will give some comfort to Irish chatroom operators, it shouldn’t be given too much weight and is unlikely to be the last word on the scope of the hosting defence in Ireland. We may have to wait for a more fully reasoned judgment (or guidance from the ECJ) before we can definitively say what rules apply to Irish sites which host user generated content”.

Note: Although the case uses the term ‘chatroom’ it was about a discussion forum, many people would see the two as different things.

A case of questioning some facts while accepting other facts without question?… A letter The Irish Times today responds to an article by the same paper’s Peter Murtagh (’Scrutinising claims of a ‘vicious’ attack on Shell protester‘, May 18, 2009):

A chara, – Like Peter Murtagh (Opinion, May 18th), I will reserve judgment on what happened to Willie Corduff at Glengad, Co Mayo, in the wee hours of April 23rd, until I see medical reports or other evidence of his injuries.

But I will also reserve judgment as to who it was used a digger to tear down Shell’s fence the previous evening, until I see evidence to identify them.

Mr Murtagh insinuates that this was the work of a group of Shell to Sea protesters: “. . . Protesters disagree and a group broke into the fenced-off area on April 22nd, commandeered digging machinery and smashed the fence.”

All the reports I have read indicate that the people who tore the fence down wore masks, and somehow managed to escape without being arrested, despite the large numbers of private security contractors and gardaí stationed in the area. I have seen no explanation as to how they started the digger, nor any evidence that it was hot-wired.

It may be bizarre to speculate that a group of masked Shell sympathisers might have taken a digger to tear the fence down, but no more bizarre than the findings of the Morris tribunal that members of the Garda Síochána in Donegal planted a hoax bomb at the MMDS antenna in Ardara so as to arrest local protesters under the Offences Against the State Act.

As the seanfhocal says: “Ní mar a shíltear a bhítear.” It is fair enough for Mr Murtagh to ask for evidence of what happened to Willie Corduff, but he must not then join the charge to transmute some other unproven allegation into bald fact. – Is mise,

COILÍN ÓhAISEADHA,

Metropolitan Apartments,

Bóthar Inse Chór,Cill Mhaighneann,

Baile Átha Cliath 8.

There still remains questions over the source of the part of the story which Murtagh apparently presents as unquestioned facts. As pointed out in the Phoenix recently:

…shortly before 9am on April 23, listeners to RTE Morning Ireland were told that the Gardaí had sealed off an area at Glengad as a “crime scene”. But this was not because of what allegedly happened to Corduff, which was barely mentioned, but because of an alleged “incursion” and “intimidation” of Shell security staff and “damage” to equipment by “armed”and “masked” men who acted with “military precision”. This was later updated to “paramilitary precision” by the zealous Mayo Gardaí.

But as locals have pointed out — even if the media has not — the Gardaí have declined to say if they were present. This is because any such admission would beg the question: why did they not arrest any of the paramilitary perpetrators? And if they were not present, how do they possess such precise details of the assault?

UPDATE #2 (17/05/2009): Reports in Sunday newspapers today suggest IN&M have managed to secure a standstill pact with bondholders, the company is due to announce this in the morning.

(Via Greenslade) The print edition of the Telegraph reported today that “City traders are betting heavily that Independent News & Media (INM) will be forced into administration as early as Monday as 11th-hour talks between shareholders and bondholders collapsed.”

Meanwhile, also in a print article this morning, The Irish Times reports the Independent group is “on the cusp of a ’standstill’ pact with its bondholders, which would give the company breathing space until late June to reorganise its debt,” however these “efforts are ongoing to convince the remaining holders to approve the standstill deal.”

UPDATE #1: The Daily Telegraph article (’Traders bet on Independent owner to fail as bond looms’ City, page 35) reports “The bondholders are refusing to accept the offer” and quotes one bondholder as saying: “This is the equivalent of 15p when we are owed 100p. The situation has gone on for long enough. The shareholders need to inject more cash and equities and get on with the asset sales over the next year or so.” The Telegraph says INM declined to comment.

A free local newspaper, the Mayo Echo, has stopped publishing, blaming a “blacklisting” by Mayo County Council, a competitor’s “campaign to close us down” and the economy.

Talking to Blurred Keys this week, editor of the Mayo Echo, Tony Geraghty, said: “Firstly the biggest employer and advertiser in Mayo, Mayo County Council, has blacklisted our publication for a number of years now, and that has effectively denied us much needed advertising revenue.”

In breaking the stories such as the Competition Authority investigation of the waste sector privatisation in Mayo – which led to national coverage – the newspaper made few friends at Mayo County Council. In not getting council advertising, Geraghty said the council is giving other newspapers a “commercial advantage” and uses “taxpayers’ money to discourage negative press coverage.”

On competitor and the general drop in advertising, he said: “Secondly, a number of our competitors have drastically reduced their advertising rates, and thirdly the general economy has taken a severe dip in recent months, tightening up the advertising spend. As we are an independent publication, we are unable to sustain significant losses, and unfortunately were forced to take the decision to cease publication”.

In an editorial published in the last edition of the newspaper (Wednesday April 15 2009), Geraghty focused on one competitor, he said:

“…in the last number of months the Western People, owned by the Cork-based Thomas Crosbie Media conglomerate, has launched a significant campaign to close us down. It has contacted many of our advertisers calling into question our distribution figures, and has repeatedly called into question our integrity. It has effectively bullied us out of the market using tactics that can only be described as sharp practice. Given that we are a small, independently owned publication, it is almost impossible for us to withstand such an onslaught, and therefore it is with the greatest of regret that we have been forced to take the decision to cease publication.”

According to the Mayo Echo, it started out in printing 6,000 copies in 2004, growing to a total distribution of 24,100. Mayoecho.com says this was a combination of 12,200 door-to-door deliveries split between the towns of Ballina, Castlebar, Westport, and Claremorris, and a further 11,900 through shops and businesses in Mayo. The total unaudited figure is nearly 6,000 copies more than the last audited circulation for the Western People, which gave the Western a total average circulation of 18,242 (Audit Bureau of Circulations, Island of Ireland Report December 2008).

In the editorial, Geraghty also said his paper had taken the view from early on the paper would not cover “petty court cases.” Instead the Mayo Echo, the editorial said: “…took a good look at the larger institutions around us. We attempted to expose our greedy politicians, our wasteful and corrupt county council, our incredibly incompetent health service, the many tax-payer-funded local quango’s that have sprung up in recent years, and other suspicious or dangerous activity being carried out by big businesses or other local agencies.”

In doing so, the newspaper courted controversy on a number of occasions. Last year, it attracted national and local criticism for a cover story that likened homosexuals to perverts and linked gay cruising to paedophilia (‘Castlebar Lake Attracts Hundreds of Perverts’). When criticism of the article appeared on community site Castlebar.ie, Geraghty attracted further attention after he threaten the website with legal action.

In the last edition, Geraghty hinted at a possible return in “another format,” saying: “No doubt there will be many who celebrate our closure, and many who exhale a sigh of relief. I am encouraged though to hope that there will be just as many who will miss our weekly edition. You may, in the distant future, see us return in another format, but for now at least, I wish you a fond farewell.”

At the time of publication, the last edition of the Echo was still available on Mayoecho.com in PDF format. Archive issues are not online.

The Mayo newspaper landscape now includes three paid titles, the Western People, The Connaught Telegraph, and the Mayo News, and one freesheet in the Mayo Advertiser.

Justin Mason's mate, Tom, spotted an Irish Examiner article where the sums add to nothing much:

All six episodes of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe, made for BBC4, are now available to watch as a playlist on YouTube. While the series is UK-focused, it covers news output which makes it into the Irish market, including Sky News, BBC News, and the UK tabloids and broadsheets. As the Beeb says:

The aim of Charlie Brooker's News Wipe is to expose the inner
workings of news media, just as [Brooker's] Screen Wipe does to TV in general.

The
series will be a funny, thoughtful and scabrous digest of recent news
events. News Wipe will take a look at the brilliant or preposterous
way the news is presented to us.

There will also be experts on hand to pick apart certain stories and
analyse the news media's obsessions.

The experts include political journalist Peter Oborne, Flat Earth News author Nick Davies, Bad Science columnist Dr Ben Goldacre, and documentary maker Adam Curtis.

A WARNING: Those who read  Blurred Keys every once in a while but are so
native to think the contents of this blog just show once-off media blunders
will likely find Newswipe too cynical, while some of our more intellectual readers will
probably find it too low brow.

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